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* Sunday rewind: Vols 38, Georgia 31 * Wiedmer: Vols and their coach both grew up against Dawgs * Tennessee rallies to stun Georgia, 38-31 * Tennessee holds off 19th-ranked Georgia, 38-31 * Michel, Davis take blame for defeat * Chubb injury disheartening for Bulldogs * Tennessee racks up record yardage on Pruitt's defense * Dobbs leads Vols in 'very, very gritty' performance * Daniel's late punt helps protect Vols' big win
Georgia sophomore tailback Nick Chubb will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a significant injury on the first play from scrimmage in Saturday's 38-31 loss at Tennessee.
Chubb damaged multiple ligaments and cartilage but did not tear the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, according to Georgia director for sports medicine Ron Courson. The injury also does not involve any arteries or nerves.
"All rehab is tough, but I think the best news was that there was no damage of a nerve or nothing vascularly, whether it was an artery or whatever," Georgia coach Mark Richt said late Sunday afternoon. "We feel like the damage is all reparable and that he can make a full recovery. It's just going to be a matter of time."
Richt said it was "safe to say" Chubb is through for the fall, and he was asked about the 5-foot-10, 220-pounder's prospects for the start of next season.
"I don't want to make any time frames on that kind of thing," Richt said. "I really don't know, but that would be what we would hope."
Chubb entered Saturday's game with 13 consecutive games in which he had rushed for at least 100 yards, amassing 2,068 yards during that stretch. His streak tied a school record set by Herschel Walker during the 1980 and 1981 seasons.
Earlier Sunday, La'Velle Chubb posted on Facebook that her son tore his posterior cruciate ligament and two other ligaments.
"Nick is in good spirits," she wrote. "Moma, on the other hand, is trying to hold it together. We are going to increase our time with God and continue watching him work."
Chubb, who was on pace to become Georgia's first representative at the Heisman Trophy ceremony since tailback Garrison Hearst in 1992, spent Sunday in the hospital for observation. Courson said surgery could be expected in the next two weeks.
Sony Michel replaced Chubb against the Volunteers and rushed 22 times for 145 yards, including a weaving 66-yard sideline run in the second quarter. Michel was not as effective in the second half, when Tennessee held the 5-11, 212-pounder to nine carries for 21 yards.
Richt said Saturday night that the game plan changes "to a certain degree" when Michel replaces Chubb.
"Sony ran it up there between the tackles, and we pretty much called the same plays for the most part that we would have called," Richt said. "Nick would have handled more of the inside runs had he been in there, but you do have to give credit to Sony and for the way the line blocked.
"You're not just going to get five yards a pop against any SEC defense every time you snap the ball, but you bang away and bang away and hope you get a big run. There will be times you get one or two, but it didn't change to where we just had to throw out the game plan."
Michel got his lone career start last December, when he and Chubb were on the field to begin Georgia's 37-14 drubbing of Louisville in the Belk Bowl. His second start is expected to come Saturday night, when the Bulldogs host Missouri for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
"I've always been preparing for this moment," Michel said. "I think it's time, whether I'm ready or not."
Odds and ends
The Bulldogs are unranked in both major polls for the first time since the end of the 2013 season, when they lost 24-19 to Nebraska in the Gator Bowl to finish 8-5. Richt said Sunday that outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins would be "day-to-day" with his groin injury. Tennessee's win Saturday gives the Vols a 22-21-2 series edge, with Georgia's last lead occurring before the 1992 meeting.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.